Krishna Software Newsletter July 2000
Without Bhakti, All Activities Are a Failure!

Welcome to the KrishnaSoft's Electronic Newsletter.
This is the July 2000 issue entitled: "Without Bhakti, All Activities Are a Failure!"
WEB: http://www.krishnasoft.com; EMAIL: krishna@krishnasoft.com or vdayal@castle.net

This newsletter goes to over 1100 people who either have an interest in Vedic science and/or spiritually entertaining multimedia technology.

[The following is the 20th of a series of articles to present to the benefits of the Srimad-Bhagavatam. The Krsna CDROM and the Srimad-Bhagavatam CDROM from Krishnasoft present this great spiritual masterpiece in multimedia format.]

Last month we discussed how Srila Prabhupada established the basis of his movement on transcendental book distribution and dovetailed all other activities to fulfill that goal:

"There are two important krsna-kathas current in the world-- Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam. Bhagavad-gita is krsna-katha because it is spoken by Krsna, whereas Srimad-Bhagavatam is krsna-katha because it narrates about Krsna. Lord Caitanya advised all His disciples to preach krsna-katha all over the world without discrimination because the transcendental value of krsna-katha can purify one and all from material contamination." (Bhag. 3.5.10)

"The whole world can be transformed into Vaikuntha if all worldly activities are dovetailed with Krsna-katha." (Bhag. 3.5.10)

"Anyone, therefore, who is earnestly serious in heart and soul about being in intimate touch with the Personality of Godhead in the relationship of transcendental loving service will always be infallible in words and action. THE REASON IS THAT THE SUPREME LORD IS ABSOLUTE TRUTH, AND ANYTHING EARNESTLY DOVETAILED WITH THE ABSOLUTE TRUTH ATTAINS THE SAME TRANSCENDENTAL QUALITY. On the other hand, any amount of mental speculation on the strength of material science and knowledge without any bona fide touch with the Absolute Truth is sure to be a mundane untruth and failure, simply due to not being in touch with the Absolute Truth. Such godless, unfaithful words and actions, however materially enriched, are never to be trusted. That is the purport of this important verse. A grain of devotion is more valuable than tons of faithlessness." (Bhag. 2.6.34)

Note that anything dovetailed with the Absolute Truth, Lord Krsna, attains the same quality as Lord Krsna. Thus, the devotees, their pure devotional service, and the Supreme Lord are all of the same quality:

"Srimad-Bhagavatam begins with the surrender of the devotee unto the Absolute Person. The devotee is fully aware that he is one with the Absolute and at the same time in the eternal position of servant to the Absolute." (Bhag. 1.1.2)

"We are all one with Him, just as the gold ornaments are one in quality with the stock gold, but the individual gold ornament is never equal in quantity with the stock gold. The stock gold is never exhausted even if there are innumerable ornaments emanating from the stock because the stock is purnam, complete; even if purnam is deducted from the purnam, still the supreme purnam remains the same purnam. This fact is inconceivable to our present imperfect senses." (Bhag. 2.6.13-16)

It is when we do not dovetail ourselves and our activities in the service of the Absolute Truth that the miseries of the material world disturb us:

"In the material conception, one falsely thinks himself the lord of all he surveys, and therefore he is always troubled by the threefold miseries of life. But as soon as one comes to know his real position as transcendental servant, he at once becomes free from all miseries. As long as the living entity is trying to master material nature, there is no possibility of his becoming servant of the Supreme. Service to the Lord is rendered in pure consciousness of one's spiritual identity; by service one is immediately freed from material encumbrances." (Bhag. 1.1.2)

So without doing things in the devotional service of the Absolute Truth, there will be only misery, failure, and useless labor:

"The occupational activities a man performs according to his own position are only so much useless labor if they do not provoke attraction for the message of the Personality of Godhead." (Bhag. 1.2.8)

We need to work ONLY for the interest of the Supreme Lord Krsna not for the satisfication of our minds or bodies. The spirit soul is aloof from the subtle and gross bodies:

"To the gross materialist who cannot see anything beyond the gross material body, there is nothing beyond the senses. Therefore his occupational activities are limited to concentrated and extended selfishness. Concentrated selfishness centers around the personal body-- this is generally seen amongst the lower animals. Extended selfishness is manifested in human society and centers around the family, society, community, nation and world with a view to gross bodily comfort. Above these gross materialists are the mental speculators who hover aloft in the mental spheres, and their occupational duties involve making poetry and philosophy or propagating some ism with the same aim of selfishness limited to the body and the mind.... Because foolish people have no information of the soul and how it is beyond the purview of the body and mind, they are not satisfied in the performance of their occupational duties. The question of the satisfaction of the self is raised herein. The self is beyond the gross body and subtle mind. He is the potent active principle of the body and mind. Without knowing the need of the dormant soul, one cannot be happy simply with emolument of the body and mind. The body and the mind are but superfluous outer coverings of the spirit soul. The spirit soul's needs must be fulfilled. Simply by cleansing the cage of the bird, one does not satisfy the bird. One must actually know the needs of the bird himself." (Bhag. 1.2.8)

Devotional service is the only way to satisfy the spirit soul. It does not mean that we have to give up everything and renounce the world. We can use our own occupational duties and acquired nature to glorify the Supreme Lord:

"There is a dormant affection for God within everyone; spiritual existence is manifested through the gross body and mind in the form of perverted affection for gross and subtle matter. Therefore we have to engage ourselves in occupational engagements that will evoke our divine consciousness. This is possible only by hearing and chanting the divine activities of the Supreme Lord, and any occupational activity which does not help one to achieve attachment for hearing and chanting the transcendental message of Godhead is said herein to be simply a waste of time. This is because other occupational duties (whatever ism they may belong to) cannot give liberation to the soul. Even the activities of the salvationists are considered to be useless because of their failure to pick up the fountainhead of all liberties. The gross materialist can practically see that his material gain is limited only to time and space, either in this world or in the other. Even if he goes up to the Svargaloka, he will find no permanent abode for his hankering soul. The hankering soul must be satisfied by the perfect scientific process of perfect devotional service." (Bhag. 1.2.8)

First we need to know what will satisfy the Supreme Lord otherwise how can we dovetail our activities in the service of the Absolute Truth? This is found out through the mercy of the spiritual master as explained in our previous newsletters. Thus, all our activities should be dovetailed to fulfill the order of the spiritual master:

"Everyone has some particular duty. The sastra has concluded (nirupitah) that everyone should glorify the Supreme Personality of Godhead by his own qualifications. If you are a singer, always glorify the Supreme Lord by singing very nicely. If you are a musician, glorify the Supreme Lord by playing musical instruments. Svanusthitasya dharmasya samsiddhir hari-tosanam (Bhag. 1.2.13). The perfection of life is to satisfy the Personality of Godhead.... The decision of all great saintly persons is that whatever qualifications one has acquired should be utilized to glorify the Supreme Lord... 'Learned sages have definitely concluded that the infallible purpose of the advancement of knowledge, austerity, Vedic study, sacrifice, the chanting of hymns, and charity is found in the transcendental descriptions of the qualities of the Lord, who is defined in choice poetry.' (Bhag. 1.5.22) This is the perfection of life. One should be trained how to glorify the Supreme Personality of Godhead by one's respective qualities. Education, austerity, penance or, in the modern world, business, industry, education and so on-- all should be engaged in glorifying the Lord. Then everyone in the world will be happy." (Bhag. 10.12.34)

Lord Krsna does not need our education, austerity, business, etc., but the fact that we dovetail them to satisfy Him is sign of our affection:

"The almighty God is thus conquered only by loving service and nothing else." (Bhag. 1.8.45)

"The Supreme Lord Krsna is described herein as atmarama. He is self-sufficient, and there is no need for Him to seek happiness from anything beyond Himself. He is self-sufficient because His very transcendental existence is total bliss. He is eternally existent; He is all-cognizant and all-blissful. Therefore, any presentation, however valuable it may be, is not needed by Him. But still, because He is the well-wisher for one and all, He accepts from everyone everything that is offered to Him in pure devotional service. It is not that He is in want for such things, because the things are themselves generated from His energy." (Bhag. 1.11.5)

Without dovetailing our activities with the desire of the Supreme Lord Krsna, all our activities will be a failure and will be nothing more than decorations on a dead body:

"Krsna comes, therefore, to exhibit His transcendental activities so that people may have the chance to glorify Him in every respect. To understand how to glorify the Lord is actual research work. It is not that everything should be understood without God. That is condemned.

Last month (June 2000), we talked about the various coverings of the universe:

"Every universe is covered by seven layers-- earth, water, fire, air, sky, the total energy and false ego-- each ten times greater than the previous one. There are innumerable universes besides this one, and although they are unlimitedly large, they move about like atoms in You. Therefore You are called unlimited [ananta]." (Bhag. 6.16.37)

We have now enhanced the Vedic Astronomy section of the Krsna CDROM even further to allow the user to fly up to and through the layers of the universe and beyond to take darsana of Maha-Visnu. Previously, the simulation did not support "Fly to" and "Land Here" features. The upgrade is freely available from the technical support section of our website http://www.krishnasoft.com/faq.htm. The program still uses the same Krsna CDROM for text, audio, and imagery. The upgrade now has all the options available to explore the universe and land in many places. This makes it much easier to understand the Vedic Astronomy section of the Srimad-Bhagavatam. The prominent features of the universe as well as the location of Maha-Visnu will become apparent after going through this simulation. The following are some of the locations one can directly fly to using the new interface:

From Brahmaaloka, one can easily fly to the coverings of the universe and then accelerate through them to Maha-Visnu.

"The origin of the material creation is Maha-Visnu, who lies in the Causal Ocean. While He sleeps in that ocean, millions of universes are generated as He exhales, and they are all annihilated when He inhales. This Maha-Visnu is a plenary portion of a portion of Visnu, Govinda (yasya kala-visesah)." (Bhag. 6.16.37)

Krishna Software Inc. is dedicated to help people become peaceful and happy via spiritual science presented using modern multimedia technology. Our editorial policy as well as our mission is stated in the Srimad-Bhagavatam (10.2.37 Purport):

"One should engage in practical service to the Lord. In our Krsna consciousness movement, *ALL* our activities are concentrated upon distributing Krsna literature. This is very important. One may approach any person and induce him to read Krsna literature so that in the future he also may become a devotee.... By fully concentrating on distributing books for Krsna, one is fully absorbed in Krsna."

Our newsletters are geared to show you the benefits of the instructions contained in the transcendental books of Srila Prabhupada so you can judge for yourself the value of these books and obtain them in book or CDROM format. We also have video demos of the Gita CDROM and Bhagavatam CDROM available for those without computers or those who want to get a glimpse into what is on the CDROM.

Krishna Software Inc. has produced some multimedia CDROMs and all the details and reviews of these CDROMs can be found at our website http://www.krishnasoft.com. Here is our current list of products:

(a) Multimedia Bhagavad-gita As It Is CD: Lord Krsna's eternal instructions to Arjuna and the rest of the world about Isvara (Supreme Lord), jiva (the soul), karma (activities), kala (time), and prakrti (nature). This is a 30-hour audio-visual CDROM. Also available with Hindi translations.

(b) Multimedia Srimad-Bhagavatam CD: An encyclopedia on the science of Krsna consciousness. This CDROM deals in detail with bhakti-yoga and covers various subjects-- the creation of the universe, Vedic astronomy, transmigration, birth-death, etc. This is about 35 hours of audio-visual presentations.

(c) Multimedia Krsna CD w/Vedic Astronomy: This is a 51-hour audio-visual presentation of the Krsna book and a Vedic Astronomy simulation based on the Srimad-Bhagavatam. All on a single CDROM. Free sample demo downloadable from our website.

(d) Multilingual Word Processor CD [version 4.00/5.00]: Type in diacritics, Hindi, Sanskrit, Gujarati, Punjabi, Bengali, and Assamese without knowing the alphabet. This is for those who want to write articles using multiple languages. Free demo downloadable from our website. New version now supports Marathi script.

All of the above software was tested on various Intel 486 and Pentium processors running Windows 3.1, Windows '95, Windows '98, and Windows NT (client and server).

Latest information and secure ordering is available at our web site: http://www.krishnasoft.com. Any upgrades can be downloaded from this website as well.

Any words appearing in CAPS in this newsletter is the editor's emphasis of a particular point.

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All glories to Lord Sri Krsna and His transcendental potencies! All glories to the Srimad-Bhagavatam, the literary incarnation of Lord Sri Krsna!